DUNEDIN, Fla. ­— The Phillies aren’t going to make the final calls on their bullpen until the deadline to do so arrives Sunday. However, Charlie Manuel hinted Monday that Phillippe Aumont is going to be on the plane to Atlanta Sunday evening.

After the huge right-hander threw one of the rare 1-2-3 innings in a 13-4 loss to Toronto at breezy Florida Auto Exchange Stadium, Manuel said that Aumont might start the season working early relief, but should become the guy he turns to in the seventh inning in close games.

“Eventually, he’s going to pitch in the seventh, if not at the start of the season,” Manuel said. “It depends how he’s throwing when the season starts, too. I can see using him along with (Antonio) Bastardo in the seventh.

“I think getting him into games last year was good for him.”

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Taking Aumont likely means Michael Stutes will start the season with Triple-A Lehigh Valley. The right-hander missed most of last season after requiring shoulder surgery, and although he’s had a few impressive Grapefruit outings, he’s also had a few where his control has been lacking. It’s a safe bet that Stutes will be the first arm called up when the need arises.

“When the season starts, they might have a little trouble to start,” Manuel said of the young relievers, “but I think once they get comfortable, they start throwing strikes and their talent comes out, I think we’re going to have a really good bullpen. I think we have some really good talent there.”

Manuel noted that Aumont performed well when pressed into set-up duty for the team last season, but also that when the Phillies started to creep into the playoff conversation he and other young relievers stumbled. However, Manuel loves power arms in his bullpen, and the hard-throwing Canadian has the type of stuff the manager would like as an option if he needs to give Mike Adams or Jonathan Papelbon a day off.

“I’ve been working on getting the mechanics down,” Aumont said after his perfect seventh inning. “Today was much better. I got back to my routine and to what I was doing before I left (to represent Team Canada in the World Baseball Classic). I felt so much better today.”

Pitching coach Rich Dubee said he thinks Aumont eventually will be a set-up man or closer in the majors, and there could be a line of thinking that he should prepare for that by working in that capacity in the minors.

However, in the 24-year-old’s opinion, getting to work alongside Adams and Papelbon would give him a quality mentorship.

“You see those guys doing what they do everyday and how they approach things,” Aumont said. “It’s fortunate that we have the eighth and ninth pretty much locked up. These guys are top-of-the-line ... if that’s where I want to end up, those are the guys I should watch.”

At 6-7, Aumont is among the tallest pitchers in Phillies’ history, and the reputation tall power pitchers usually have is that it oftentimes takes them longer to figure out their mechanics and thus have terrific control. Aumont averaged nearly seven walks per nine innings at Lehigh Valley last season, but he also averaged nearly 12 strikeouts per nine innings. This spring he has walked three batters in 6 1/3 innings of work, and Manuel has said he thinks Aumont’s exceptional stuff allows him to pitch out of trouble more easily that most young pitchers.

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The wind was howling out toward the fences for both John Lannan against the Blue Jays and Kyle Kendrick as he pitched a minor-league game at the Carpenter Complex. It led to some ugly pitching lines, although Lannan’s certainly took the cake.

How about 12 earned runs in four innings?

“I got my butt kicked,” said Lannan, who allowed 14 hits, many of them smoked. “A couple were wind-aided, but for the most part it was solid contact.

“I have to move on.”

The bombing rained on an otherwise strong spring for Lannan, who will be the fifth starter.

Kendrick, who likely will start the Phils’ home opener against the Royals, allowed five runs in six innings, including three homers. However, he also struck out eight and settled in after a rocky opening two innings.

Kendrick laughed off the conditions.

“Another windy game for me,” he said. “I wanted to throw my slider today and I felt it came a long way.

“The stuff I wanted to work on was good ... I can deal with no wind. If it’s just cold (in the home opener) that’s fine with me.”